michael najjar photographs the james webb space telescope
in july 2012 michael najjar has been given the rare opportunity to photograph the golden mirrors of the james webb space telescope, which will replace the famous hubble space telescope in 2018.
the telescope is a project of NASA with international collaboration from the ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, including contributions from fifteen nations. the JWST's primary scientific mission has four main components: to search for light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the Universe after the big bang, to study the formation and evolution of galaxies, to understand the formation of stars and planetary systems and to study planetary systems and the origins of life. looking beyond our own galaxy to more distant galaxy clusters, quasars, and gamma-ray bursts, the most distant objects viewable are also the "youngest," that is, they were formed during a time period closer in time to that of the big bang. we see them today because their light has taken billions of years to reach us. because the universe is expanding, as the light travels it becomes red-shifted and these objects are therefore easier to see if viewed in the infrared. JWST's infrared capabilities are expected to let it see all the way to the very first galaxies forming after the big bang.